Discuss "Luster" By Raven Leilani IN PERSON

Hello all Novels of New York Readers! We're rounding out our “summer of erotica” and I’m happy to be hosting! Please see below for all details. PLUS - teaser! - we have some REALLY exciting book club up-levels starting September and I'll be sharing all about it at our August gathering 🤩 # [Luster By Raven Leilani](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/luster_raven-leilani/23925979/item/47051617/?mkwid=%7cdc&pcrid=77447028765180&pkw=&pmt=be&slid=&product=47051617&plc=&pgrid=1239149900900141&ptaid=pla-4581046496384036%3aaud-805998392&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping+-+High+Vol+Frontlist+-+Under+%2410&utm_term=&utm_content=%7cdc%7cpcrid%7c77447028765180%7cpkw%7c%7cpmt%7cbe%7cproduct%7c47051617%7cslid%7c%7cpgrid%7c1239149900900141%7cptaid%7cpla-4581046496384036%3aaud-805998392%7c&msclkid=4a1d7f548c7d19b8d2ce153c5f71ed9c#idiq=47051617&edition=51780328) **Book Overview ☀️** **A* NEW YORK TIMES *NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR** **"An irreverent intergenerational tale of race and class that's blisteringly smart and fan-yourself sexy." --Michelle Hart*, O: The Oprah Magazine*** *No one wants what no one wants.* And how do we even know what we want? How do we know we're ready to take it? Edie is stumbling her way through her twenties…sharing a subpar apartment in Bushwick, clocking in and out of her admin job, making a series of inappropriate sexual choices. She is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage - with *rules*. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscapes of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics weren't hard enough, Edie finds herself unemployed and invited into Eric's home--though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows. Irresistibly unruly and strikingly beautiful, razor-sharp and slyly comic, sexually charged and utterly absorbing, Raven Leilani's *Luster* is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life--her hunger, her anger--in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way. **Optional Assignment:🤓** 1. Choose a word to share that sums up this book for you. 1. Choose a quote to share that sums up this book for you. 1. Choose an NYC quote to share 🌆